Our mission wheels - brand new Rav4. It's cruel to send a nice new car out on the roads here. After 18 months on the roads of Guatemala it will require a full chassis transplant. One of the favorite tricks is to put large speed bumps in an otherwise open road, with no warnings. And most of the time they are not even painted. But the local style of driving trains you to be constantly alert so you see them - most of the time. We have already passed two or three cases where someone's wheel just fell off while driving. 

I am developing a theory that the "wild west" (Libertarian?) style of driving here actually results in fewer accidents as we haven't seen many so far. Before I am done here I plan to write a book on the science of driving in Guatemala.

-- Ralph

Dental Clinic and Orphanage

Some of the senior missionaries here with us are dentists who staff a  a  modern, well-equiped clinic in Guatemala City that was built by but not owned by the Church. They work on any missionaries with problems and also help lots of others not only in Guatemala, but they travel throughout Central America as well going into communitites and provide free dental services to whomever needs it. I am including a picture of a mural in the clinic that was made by the builders. If you look closely you will see a pair of missionaries with their Book of Mormon although there is no overt identification of them as it is a public clinic.

The clinic is next to a girls orphanage. These are kids that would otherwise be fending for themselves on the street. You will see pictures of the older girls making bread and one of our own, Sister Murray, demonstrating the proper way to knead bread by hand.

We Survived the First Week!

You probably know how hard it is to change jobs, having to learn new duties and maybe a new boss.

Suppose that along with changing jobs

you are also changing companies with a new culture and vocabulary

and moving to a new house with strange furnishings,

in a foreign culture,

with a different language,

where you have to be on guard for people who want to rob you,

and everyone has hired guns in front of their home or business,

where you don’t know where to go for things you need

and you cant find what you need when you finally get there,

where the roads are confusing and seem to be designed to make it hard to get anywhere,

and helpful street signs are in short supply,

and rush hour lasts from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM,

and the drivers use a WHOLE different set of rules.

Then you see the faces of children and it makes it all worthwhile!

We Made It!

We made it ok, it took 17 hours to get here! Boy were we tired! We started our day at 3am in Prove, got to the airport only to find out we had to wait 2 1/2 hrs because our flight was delayed. Got to Dallas waited another 1 1/2 hrs then 3 hr 20 mins to Guatemala. The mission pres, his wife and 2 missionaries were at the airport to help us with our bags and stuff. At the apt there was a couple waiting for us to help get us settled. I got to bed at 10:45 pm. 
Today we got up at 7:15 am to get ready for church only to find out the time was different... It really was 6:15 am! Boy I lost a whole hour :( 
Church was fun we went to the ward the Call's go to and there were several people who spoke English to us. That was nice, I could only understand a little of the lesson and talks but it will come. The chapel is currently serving as our mission offices until they finish remodeling the building they usually use, so we know how to get there J.
The Call's have 4 guests here form the states that come to help in the dental clinic. They are really nice. They asked us over to have cheese and crackers for a snack. And the missionaries had a welcome BBQ to welcome us and another couple home. It was on the roof of our building where they have a patio with nice tables and chairs and a serving counter. It was fun to meet everyone and spend a little time getting to know each other. They also gave us safety ideas telling us when and how to get around the city. Apparently it is not safe to ride in the car with the windows down because you could get held up. So different from home…  

The mission Pres. Wife had our kitchen ready for us to have breakfast in the morning and later today Elder Smith will take us shopping. Then in the future we will be able to go on our own.
They have really made us feel welcome and at home. The weather is beautiful 75 but cloudy with a small breeze which we need to keep out apt comfortable.
This is a beautiful place and we will share our pictures with you, and yes Jon we took more than just out the car window…

Love you all, miss you. Look forward to you emails. J

Thoughts from the Missionary Training Center

This place is big! This became most evident at the Tuesday night devotional when all 2000+ were together in the same room. We had a great message from Elder David Evans of the Seventy but the best part was the singing.  All those voices united in power was impressive, even if just singing a simple hymn.   Also impressive is the amount of food the cafeteria puts out three times a day! Unfortunately, it is "all you can eat" and quite edible too. It's a good thing that we are only here five days or I would have to get my pants enlarged. It is great to feel the enthusiasm of the young elders and sisters. We all truly have the Spirit.  Today is the day that a new batch of young missionaries arrived and we tried to imagine all the tearful farewells that took place today, reminding us of our farewell just two days ago.  We have learned so much that it seems that we must have been here longer than that. I am surprised at how many young sister missionaries are here. It is thrilling that so many of our young women are able to serve. They are such effective ambassadors for the church. This week's batch of senior missionaries is almost 100, including us. A new group arrives every week and while our group is larger than average, larger ones will be arriving in the next few weeks. We have a large contingent that are going to Nauvoo to increase their staff for the tourist season. They have to provide their own period costumes and will be driving to Illinois. Others are going to Ecuador, DR Congo and India. We have been spending much of our time in practice teaching situations and for many of the exercises Jolene and I have been paired as companions much as we would be in the future. This kind of teaching isn't our main responsibility but we may have some opportunity to do it. I have been impressed with what a good teacher Jolene is. She is so skilled at really connecting with people and expresses herself so well! I think her training work of the last few years has really left a positive mark on her. I hope we will have many opportunities to teach together in the future. --- Ralph